Houston a hotbed for health care jobs

While hospital job growth across the nation has been sluggish for the last few months, Houston remains a hotbed for clinical jobs, according to recent data.

The hospital sector nationwide lost jobs for the third month this year, according to July data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Not the case in Houston. Job openings in the area increased nearly 25 percent year over year. What's more, three of the top five companies with the most job listings in the area are hospitals, according to Simply Hired Inc.'s August 2013 Employment Outlook, which highlights job industry and employer trends.

Houston Methodist Hospital System is No. 3 for Houston-area job openings on the website, with 962. About two-thirds of those are clinical — anything from physicians to nurses to allied health professionals — said Willie French, the system's director of talent acquisition.

"We've seen a steady increase over the past several years for health care, and Houston continues to grow," French said.

"As patient census grows, we staff up another flow," he said. "There's a steady increase, a definite incline (in patients) at each of our locations, and we've expanded the capacity of those locations to accommodate patients."

"We're faced with the nursing shortage every day," French said. "We are dealing with an acute-care patient population, so we received the sickest of the sick. We are really targeting experienced registered nurses in the operating room and emergency rooms as well as nurse practitioners. It's been an ongoing challenge."

The top five companies with the most Houston-area job listings on SimplyHired.com are: